Deviance is defined as the recognized violation of cultural
norms. This is an extremely broad definition, and depending on who is explaining
it, the above definition can mean a variety of different things. It is,
however, generally assumed by the general public that anyone who is considered
"deviant" is putting a negative stranglehold on society. This is not necessarily
true. The types of people that become deviants is another issue that
is heated with controversy. What exactly is the makeup of a deviant? What
makes him tick? These are all questions that "experts" have been trying
to answer for years.

Deviance is exhibited in many forms throughout society.
Deviance is not necessarily negative either. Sometimes the norms of society
need to be violated so that new norms can be enforced. Society repeatedly
attempts to put many social controls on it' people. Anyone who does not
fit the perfect mold of the zombie-citizen would be considered a deviant.
If there was no deviance, this planet would be comprised of billions of
mindless robot-like people who are simply guided from an unseen power that
tells them when to get up in the morning, when to go to bed at night, how
much money to give to the government, and what decisions they can and can't
make under their own free will.

However, there are also negative deviants. These people
are the ones who are starved for attention. These are the people who attempt
to convince you how "disturbed" or "depressed" they are. These are the
people who claim to be evil and dark. However, they have a catch. When
you expose them for the frauds they are, the roles are reversed, and it
is their claim that the accuser just doesn't understand their plight. But
if they aren't hurting anyone, does society really owe them a punishment?

These are examples of the two extremes. Somewhere between
the two lie a middle ground. Any free thinking person would have to be
considered a deviant. Anyone who questions the morality of society's laws
would be a deviant. Citizen's aren't supposed to think about the laws,
they are simply supposed to obey them. When they openly question them,
society has taught the others to look down upon them as an "extremist".

Deviance does not always need to be looked upon in a negative
manor. There is no need for society to always be on the lookout for a cure,
or a way to rehabilitate deviant persons. Violent criminal deviants are
dealt with in this manor, as are mentally unstable deviants (according
to whom though? "Road Rage" is now a certified "condition"). However, these
types of deviants only make up a small fraction of our population. Quite
simply, it was a large group of deviants that wrote the Declaration of
Independence and fought for the very existence of our great United States
of America. Did our founding fathers need to be "handled" by society because
they did not fit the perfect mold? They certainly were, but we now consider
them heroes.

Deviance covers such a broad base that no easy "fix-all"
will ever come close to solving it. Many bleeding heart idealists would
like to see people living in some serene utopia, but that will never happen.
People are individual thinking, breathing, living organisms. The more society
attempts to mold people into the perfect model citizen, the more they will
want to rebel against it. Not because they are craved for attention, but
because they know who they are. People do not need society to give them
an identity. Most people know who they are already. People cannot always
look to society for the answers to all their problems. Of course, someone
who did that would fit the perfect mold, and wouldn't be a deviant, but
sometimes people need to think and do for themselves. If that makes every
free thinker a deviant, so be it.